Alex Wurz: The cheapest way to buy laptime in F1?

New Williams driver mentor Alex Wurz tells Edd Straw that if it's good enough for Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, it's good enough for Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado

It's normal practice for even the greatest performers in football, tennis, golf and any other number of top-line sports to have coaches. Yet in Formula 1, the idea of a driver coach – or, as new Williams recruit Alex Wurz has been dubbed, a 'driver mentor' – is alien, even though it's now the norm in most junior categories. Unusually, the former Benetton, McLaren and Williams driver is now attached to Williams on what is best described as a consultancy basis, where his job will be to work with Pastor Maldonado, Bruno Senna and reserve pilot Valtteri Bottas.

So what does the role actually involve? Well, firstly it's abundantly clear that it's early days in this role, so Wurz's brief is very fluid. The 38-year-old Austrian, who since his final grand prix start in 2007 has won the Le Mans 24 Hours for Peugeot and now joined Toyota's sportscar team, is not there to teach his charges how to suck eggs.